Max Lucado Explains How to Pray for Healing

The following is a transcribed Video Q&A, so the text may not read like an edited article would. Scroll to the bottom to view this video in its entirety.

We can come to our heavenly Father and ask him to heal us, because he wants us to be whole. He wants us to be whole, not just in our spirit and soul, but also in our body. Remember, the big idea of the Bible is to reestablish the Garden of Eden, to take us back to the way we were. Adam and Eve, they didn't struggle with bursitis or spinal issues or crick in the neck. So wherever there is a sickness, there is an opportunity for God to display his glory. And where we get tangled up is at when is God going to display his glory? And to what degree are we going to be healed?

In the book, I talk about we've gotta begin by remembering that sickness is under the domain of God. He didn't create it, but he still has authority over it. So in the book I say you can expect to be healed. Will you be healed immediately? I hope so. Will you be healed gradually? That happens quite often. But all of us will be healed ultimately, and it's not a cop-out to say that our healing will happen on the other side of death. That's the ultimate healing. We can take absolute assurance that healing will come. If he heals you gradually, that means this particular affliction is being used for his glory, for the development of your character, maybe as a sermon. One of the men in our church has struggled with a muscular issue for many, many years. But boy, he is such an example. All of us admit people who inspire us through their affliction. So that could be part of their testimony.

But God is still healing them. And then all of us will be healed ultimately. So it's essential during prayer to talk to God about what hurts us physically. It really is. And to let God speak to that to comfort us, to bring wisdom into that part of our lives.